Jason Taylor

Ok, I have done my best. I have held back the urge for several weeks now to be quiet and to let all the rumors go back and forth and to wait for the dust to settle. So here we go.
Jason Taylor, the Miami Dolphins best player and one of the best defensive ends of his generation, seems awfully frustrated about bad his team has been over the years. Well I can certainly understand his where that frustration. The Dolphins have probably spent more time in the top 10 of the draft order than they have in the playoffs during his career. It’s been downright ugly at times in South Florida. So Taylor decided he had enough and he wasn’t going to some up to team workouts, mini-camps and even training camp. He wanted trade and he was going to hold out until he got it. A multiple-million dollar staring contest to see who would blink first. Well a little while later, Taylor came out and said he hasn’t demanded a trade or will hold out of training camp.
Alright, everyone went back and forth, talked bad about each other, demanded this and that. Whatever this type of stuff happens all the time in sports. And there is the problem. This stuff happens all the time.
It’s been of the terrible side effects of overblown salaries and endorsements, worthless contracts and free-agency. So many of the sportsmen today are in the business of business and not in the business of winning. They measure their success by shoe deals and television show appearances. No wonder so many fans have no connection with the players on their teams or have no respect. They’re using the franchise they have rooted for all their life as negotiating tool to get a big pay day.
I understand Jason Taylor wanting to be on a winning team (who doesn’t) and wanting to get paid what he thinks he is worth (again, who doesn’t) but he has thrown his teammates and his fans under the bus in the process.
It’s was the same way with Michael Strahan last year and Chad Johnson this year. These guys are forgetting the most important thing: being the best player they can be so they can help their team win. And they are not being the best player they can when they are skipping mini-camps and training camps. It’s the NFL, it’s highly competitive. A player needs every rep, every hour of film study, every wind sprint to keep up with the competition. Every chance missed to get better is step lost to the other team.
If Taylor and all these other so-called leaders want to be the men then need to be then they would get to training camp. No matter what the contract situation is, they need to be there making themselves and their teammates better. Take care of the money situation in the board room at the end of the day.
If a player really wants to be truly respected, he’ll put his team at the absolute top of the priority list. The respect will come, and later, so to will the money.